History
Creation of the World How the world came to be is unknown. It lies in a solar system, which lies within the twinkling lights of a swirling galaxy, itself only a speck within the endless existence. And although beyond there is the void, and in the void there is writhing madness, the material plane runs different than the void. And the world existed and formed - orbiting its sun, with four moons around it. And as there was a world, there were spirits of the world - as well as spirits that crossed between dimensions and remained here. And though it is unknown whether they were native spirits who grew powerful, or wandering Gods, eventually it was the God and Goddess who become overlords of the world - they who would later be referred to as the Primordial Couple. Though there may have been godly struggles before their ascenion to power, there is no knowledge of this, there being none to keep record. The First Reign The Primordial Couple held the first recorded dominion over this world. They held heirarchy over all the demi-gods and spirits of the world. The only dieties with a modicum of independence were those who existed in the celestial realms, such as the Moon-Goddesses, but even they were forced to give tribute. The First Reign was marked by warfare and chaos. Massive sections of the world were rebuilt and destroyed. The God and Goddess warred constantly with each other, tempting demi-gods and spirits to their side and having them betray them. The only time when they would unite is when Others began to show too great an interest in their plane, and they would organize the Demi-Gods and spirits into resistance. More than one short, violent war broke out between the primordials and various factions of Others. However, they never had the power or gall to deny all of the Others entirely, and this world was the visiting place of a great amount of wandering entities, some who could rival the Primordial Couple in power, which made them more concerned and violent. The Primordial Couple were also known to trap wandering entities if they were not strong enough, forcing them to take up duties in this world or else suffer torment. The War of the Gods The War of the Gods was a great conflict born of the long chaotic period and chaos of the First Reign. With the Primordial couple constantly fighting one another and occasionally Others from the other worlds, there was next to no stability in the world and for the most part the lands lay desolate and barren, the seas constantly raging with the tempestuous temper of the Primordial Goddess. Where there was not lonely, blasted rock, there was roaring ocean, and where there was not that, there was roiling clouds and grey fog and the poisonous miasma that choked and caused madness. There was little life, only weeds and stunted, twisted trees that died quickly, and in the oceans hideous things with long teeth and pale eyes that slithered across the vast, empty ocean floor. Eventually, there were those who grew dissatisfied with this constant conflict and barreness, and they rebelled against the Primordial Couple, hoping to overthrow them and restore some semblance of stability and regularity to the world. When the current Gods and many Demi-gods and spirits, even a few Others, formed an army, and they launched a campaign against the Primordials. Many Others, taking a change in rulership as a threat to their visitations on the world, joined with the Primordials in the war, a truce in the face of a mutual enemy. The Second Reign The Second Reign is the term used for the period immediately after the de-throning of the Primordial Couple by the current Pantheon. For the most part, the earlier part of this period involved hunting down stray Others still in the world and banishing those who had sided with the Deep Ones. There was little else that happened in this time, other than some organization of spirits and assigning new posts to demi-gods. The Primodial Couple and the Demi-Gods loyal to them were placed in their submerged domains and restricted there. During this time the deepest wounds to the world were healed and the continents and oceans were formed and made stable. The Gods then began to form the world in their image, forging the lands as they willed. Maneros ripped up the Trollhaven Mountains, Abyss fueled the growth of the dark Nightlands, Gevurah raised the steam and snow of Malkut, Thogen light his fires at Mt. Jazun and forged life in Thogenar - or so it is said. It was also during this period that the potential Goddess, Natyre , came to rest from her tumultuous travellings during the previous chaos. Legends of Founding Ancient Histories Manorym Hevanni They developed a wondrous civilization fueled by magic and experimentation - so much so that their homeland, the Darkfeather Forest, still resonates with their earliest charms. They ruled through a sort of meritocracy based on wisdom - the Philosopher Kings. Salt Folk The Salt Folk have always lived a Coastal life. In their earliest period of development, they were often preyed upon by marauding Troll Raiders. This changed when Okhara united the disparate Salt Folk communities into one Federation of tribes and was able to beat back the Trolls and set up a united resistance. This was the birth of the Stormhaven Federation, and the importance of Stormhaven as a core city-state. The prosperity this stability caused led to the emergence of the city-state of Freeport, which provided a rival to Stormhaven power in the Federation. Soon cities like Nulen and Coldharbour would also emerge to spread out the balance of power and weaken the monopoly Stormhaven had over the Federation. Trolls They existed in a state of mostly benign anarchy, different tribes and clans sticking to themselves and occaisonally warring - the terrain they inhabit is so vast and varied that large scale wars are rare. The Trolls were originally rife with worship of the Primal Gods, which led them to war violently against the Salt Folk, Hevanni and Wulfkin. However, this ended when Ukhar Firstking went about subduing the other tribes. Although his "Troll Empire" was a loose confederation at best, and fell apart after his death, he had successfully stamped out Primordial Worship and replaced it with worship of Maneros, although the Troll still worshipped in the manner of spirit communion. Ukhar also left the legacy of Ukhar's Peak, the closest thing the Trolls have to a city, which is used as a meeting place to settle disputes and contention, another lesson of Ukhar's. Midlands Western Midlands The Western Nations of the Midlands trace their history to a later migration of Creudyn peoples. Galyntyn The original "nation" of Mithrassen comprised the land given to Mithras, a Hevanni Noble, on the far edges of Hevanni land. This led to a collection of small Hevanni communities ruling over disparate tribes, from the Bay of Horns to the Longwater. The structure of Mithrassen can first said to have shifted towards being a nation when High Priestess Seytal was exiled from Nilym for an attempted coup. She was banished to the hinterlands of Mithrassen, where she eventually married her cousin, the current king. At his death, she radically re-organized the area, forming it into a true nation and constructing the capital of Galyntyn, created a more cohestive community - with the Hevannic "Noble Blood" nobles firmly above the disparate pure human tribes. The War of Betrayal The War of Betrayal was a conflict faught between Mithrassen Nobles and loyal tribes against a set of rebelling tribes (exactly who was "Betrayed" differs depending on the account). This event was important as it supposedly was the catalyst for formation of a variety of human nations. The origin of the war was the Mithrassen King Celithroem, whose wife died childless - yet the King had a variety of pure human mistresses. This led to three low born claimants to a throne that was traditionally only held by the nobility. However, after the King's death, his brother-in-law put his own infant child on the throne. The three rivals for the throne united and war broke out. Though they were defeated in their attempts to defeat the nobility, they were able to unite and move their tribes and defend against counter-attack. This is stated to be the origin of the nations of Iolos, Silvern, Coronia and Redtree. Gibria The great nation of Gibria takes great pride in its histories - tomes upon tomes are written about the time of founding, and many strange myths make guesses at what it was like before then. What was known is that there were civilizations before the Gibrians - Creudyn at one time and before that, strange relics and artifacts that are difficult to discern meaning from. But the true story of Gibria begins with Gibrior landing on its shores. Gibrior was said to be a tribe leader from lands to the north, likely amidst the proto-Redtree tribes. He wanted to lead his people to a brighter future that he saw. With assisstance from an unknown source, he remarkably assembled an impressive collection of ships and set sail. When he reached Gabria it was untamed wilderness, known as Brightmoon among the humans, or Ejziget among the Creudyn. There were only a few isolated settlements of Creudyn here - for the island was riddled with underground cae systems and they were filled with strange, monstrous creatures. Worse still, these creatures had been worshipping things best not mentioned, opening a gateway to allow Demons through. Many of Gibriors followers decried his choice to bring them here, saying he had led them into a deathtrap. Gibrior ignored their protests and gathered those loyal to him and began his crusade of clensing. (A supposedly full account of his many adventures with the realm in its magical state of flux can be found in the "Tome of Exploits). After many adventures and battles, combined with settling the land and spreading his teachings (which would set the groundwork for all Gibrian civilization) Gibrior combatted a powerful group of Archdemons who rose out of the deepest cavern to stop his conquest. Gibrior engaged all of them in battle and, according to the Tome of Exploits ''"Broke them all, and cast them still broken and mewling, back from when they came, aflamed with the conflagration of the bright new dawn that was his wrath". ''The Tome then claims that it was at this moment that Gibrior was mortally wounded from his fight and the sacrifice he had made touched all the people who witnessed it and after having a private conversation with his closest followers (the contents of which are disputed to this day) he ascended, becoming a spirit that flew to the level of a Demi-God in a blaze of glory. Zemellar The History of Zemeller can be defined by a few major factors. The first is the closeness to the Nightlands, leading to a deep mentalitiy of both danger and duty amongst many inhabitants, specificially the Takiel-En and Takiel-Ruh. The arrival of the Creudyn to the continent, during their great Age of Expansion, permenantly affected the structure of the land - while the Zethar were able to maintain their preferred isolation and independence (much to the chagrin of many Creudyn), the Takiel-En and Takiel-Ruh found their communities existing within a greater Creudyn province. Many Takiel feel that the Creudyn influence is an important strength - other see it as a crippling weakness. This may have led to one of the most noticeably incidences - the creation of the independent Takiel nation of Nuroda on the Dark Isles, which further led to the eventual creation of The Fallen.